5 Major Ways Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker Mirrored The Last Jedi
2. The Surprising Death Of A Major Villain Leads To A Missed Opportunity
One of the most eye-opening moments in The Last Jedi was Supreme Leader Snoke being split in two by Kylo Ren. Up until that point, Snoke appeared to be the sequel trilogy's answer to Emperor Palpatine. In a weird sort of way, he kind of wound up fulfilling that role because of his appearance in The Rise of Skywalker, but that's besides the point.
Many saw Snoke's death, especially at the time, to be a missed opportunity and a largely unsatisfying development. He was a mystery that seemed destined to be unexplained, and his death meant that Episode 9 would be missing a lead villain besides Kylo Ren.
Of course, Emperor Palpatine's return changed that equation just a tad bit, but the fact remains that many felt Snoke deserved more.
Another villain who deserved more than he received is General Hux. Throughout the first two sequel films, Hux has a tenuous relationship with Kylo Ren. That seems to boil over by The Rise of Skywalker as Hux becomes a spy for the Resistance, seemingly because of his displeasure with Ren's direction.
It would have been intriguing to see how far Hux would have gone in this role, or if he would have ever been confronted by Ren himself about it, but that never came to pass. Instead, he was blasted away by Richard E. Grant's General Pryde in practically the first scene after fans learn of his betrayal of the First Order.
Of course, Snoke's death remains a bigger development than Hux's simply because of fan's expectations for the former character/ In the grand scheme of things though , it just means both movies cut the stories of one of the sequel trilogy's major villains short.